The Girl Backstage
by SereneCalamity
Summary: When Jace was sixteen, he was vaulted to superstardom. But even now, years later, there's only one girl that he's on stage for. Clace. Oneshot.


_Just something short and cheesy._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own the characters._

The screams from the crowd in the arena were almost deafening and Jace Herondale was glad that he already had his earplugs in. Maryse Lightwood was saying something to him—she was talking a hundred words per minute—and Jace was nodding and looking at her in a way that he knew was attentive, even though he wasn't paying any attention at all. Maryse was in the habit of repeating the same things over and over again before every concert, and after nearly seven years, he knew her speech off by heart.

Every now and then she even changed it up a little, but it was all pretty much the same thing.

 _Smile._

 _Find some pretty girl and sing to her for a few minutes._

 _Stay away from the pyrotechnics._

 _Make sure you're breathing properly._

 _Smile!_

 _Drink between sets._

 _Make sure you look at the cameras when they come in._

 _Don't come in early on_ Neverending You _, remember that one time you did?_

 _SMILE!_

The stage manager—Hodge Starkweather, who had been with him nearly as long as Maryse had—came over, interrupting his manager. Jace took one of his earplugs out, because Hodge got straight to the point, and he actually had to listen to what he had to say, because some arenas were different from others.

"We're ready," he told him, tapping his finger against the headset in his ear. "Crowds pumped up and ready to go. You good?"

"I'm good," Jace replied, taking in a deep breath and then turning to look over his shoulder. There were his group of dancers, who were going through some last minute practices, drinking some water and stretching out their arms and legs. He tried to look further than them, but all he could see were some others in his stage crew, his back up singers and his band. He caught a glimpse of red hair and his hopes rose in his chest, but then the girl turned around, and it wasn't someone he recognized, probably one of the stage crew.

"Jace?" Maryse's voice wasn't quite as stern as it usually was, and Jace knew that she was trying to be caring. She did have a mothering side to her, even if it was buried down deep. "You need to go on. The opening act has been off for half an hour and the crowd is getting restless." Jace knew that she was right, and he tried to push all thoughts out of his mind, other than the lyrics to his songs and his dance routines. He nodded at Hodge, and Hodge spoke into his headset, and suddenly the everything went dark.

A roar that made Jace wince but smile went up as the audience became aware that the main act was about to go on. He got that buzz in his stomach, that familiar feeling of adrenaline beginning to pour through his veins as he shook out his hands and took in a few shaky breaths. Alec Lightwood—Maryse's son and Jace's lead guitarist—rested a hand on his shoulder and gave it a quick, good luck squeeze, before he was ushered onto the stage, moved to take his place in the dim lighting.

The screams were so loud they were deafening, and he was glad that he had plugs in his ears. It didn't block the noise completely, but it helped, and his own music would play through them shortly, which would help. He took in a deep breath, and then the music for his first song started.

The audience got even _louder_.

The guitar and drums came together, playing the introduction and then building and building until they cut off and there was dead silence from the stage. Jace felt that nervousness that hit him every time—he'd been feeling it since he was sixteen and he had first been discovered—but then he took in a deep breath and waited for his cue.

Lights suddenly lit up the whole stage and Jace grabbed the microphone, throwing himself into the first line of his song.

For nearly two hours, Jace sung, and danced and he made sure to _smile_ as Maryse had reminded him multiple times. He fell to his knees at the front of the stage in a couple of the songs, reaching out for girls in the audience. He was glad that there were security guards at the front of the crowd, because a couple of the girls had vice-like grips and nearly pulled him off the stage. Near the end of the concert, he had three songs left in his set.

There were two slow songs— _Red Haired Beauty_ and _Dream_ —and Jace gave a small commentary about them, like he always did. And then there was one faster song— _Bright Eyes._

 _Red Haired Beauty_ was written about his high school girlfriend. The girl who had been helping him with his singing since they were twelve years old and she had caught him singing in the mirror with his hairbrush. She had laughed and she had teased him, but she had encouraged him. She had pushed him to write, she had been the one that stopped him from burning his notebook when he was so frustrated he wanted to throw away all the songs that he had written so far.

 _Dream_ was written about a woman that he was in love with now. Someone that he kept sheltered from the life that he was in now, someone who was the quiet in the storm of business that his life was, someone who didn't view him as an international rock star, but as a twenty-three year old man. Someone who wasn't interested in the spotlight and the fame that came with it, but who was happy to be an anchor in the craziness, and help him retreat from it all.

Luckily for Jace, the songs were both about the same person.

Jace was just finished _Bright Eyes_ —sweat dampening his hair and pouring down his face, panting as he jumped around with the backup dancers—when he caught a glimpse of a red off to the side, next to Maryse. He couldn't help but look back over, and he nearly missed his cue for the last line of his song. Standing next to Maryse was a red haired woman, wearing a pair of black jeans, boots, and a dark blue shirt with a cardigan over the top.

Jace was running off the stage before the music finished, as the lights went dark, sprinting over to his fiancee and wrapping his arms around her.

Clarissa Morgenstern—soon to be Herondale, given their wedding date was for another two months—let out a giggle as she hugged him back. She was the most important person in the world to him. She had met him when they were in kindergarten, had lived down the block until they were ten when her parents split up, and then she had moved across town. They were still in the same school, and they were still close friends, and when they were twelve, she had realized how much he liked singing. She had told him to ignore his parents when they had tried to push him into playing sports rather than getting singing lessons. She had helped him in school shows and she had skipped school with him when they were fifteen to go and sing at a talent show in the middle of New York.

They had both been grounded by their parents, but a month later, he had gotten the call that had changed his life forever. Things had sort of been thrown into fast forward, and suddenly his name was know by everyone and his face was plastered everywhere, and he found it difficult to keep up. Clary had never actually been his girlfriend, even though they had kissed a few times, and it wasn't just her that he had lost touch with when he became famous. It was all of his friends and family, other than his parents. But eight months later, when he came home for Christmas, he had gone to her house and things had just felt so _normal_.

The pair had been together ever since, with rules laid out by her parents originally that her name wasn't to be released in any interviews because they wanted her to finish high school in peace. It meant not being able to go out in public very often, but they made it work. After Clary had left school, she decided she didn't want to be a public girlfriend, like some girls liked. She didn't want the criticism and the spotlight, and she knew that she couldn't avoid it completely, but she could try her hardest.

Jace completely respected that.

"You're killing it out there," Clary whispered in his ear before she pulled away. "Sorry I was late, my art show went a bit later than I expected."

"It's fine, you're here now," Jace grinned, brushing her hair over her ear and then leaning forward and kissing her briefly on the mouth. "Dinner afterwards?" Clary laughed and raised her eyebrows.

"It's nearly midnight!" She exclaimed.

"So? Didn't you hear? I'm famous. Places open for me if I ask them too," he grinned widely and Clary rolled her eyes.

"Hey, don't let this shit go to your head," Clary told him, punching him lightly in the arm. Jace just leaned in for another kiss before Maryse came over to them.

"You're due back on stage," she reminded him. The chanting of 'encore' from the stage was just getting louder and louder.

"Wait for me?" Jace asked, even though it was unnecessary, putting the earpiece back in his ear and fixing his microphone.

"You know I will," Clary blew him a kiss as he began backing away. Her smiling face was the last thing that he saw before the blinding lights shone back on him, and he kicked off into the encore song.

 _Let me know what you think :)_


End file.
